Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury and car accident lawyer since 1979 whose law firm has handled 20,000 to 30,000 cases, there is no longer a smooth road to easy wins or hefty settlements. Many of the insurance companies and the defense law firms hired to represent them are using a “scorched earth” approach to handling law suits filed against them by never settling cases and by then exhausting every appeal. This tactical change coupled with friendlier appeals courts have given the insurance companies a sense of power where they freely delay, deny, and defend even in the clearest liability case. As an experienced Pennsylvania trial lawyer who has been aggressively fighting the insurance companies every day, I can honestly state that the insurance company has been corrupted from a business that was bound by promise and contract to one of profit through deception.

Recently defense counsel for a major insurance company told me that his insurance company would outspend and outlast anyone who wants to challenge him and that it was good for his business and that he and his firm were making more money than ever in the process. Now more than ever, if you or a loved is injured in a car accident or as the result of a defective product, you need aggressive legal representation to force the insurance company to pay a justified claim. From stonewalling and low balling claims to instigating arbitrary fraud investigations, the insurance companies are increasing failing to live up to their contractual commitments.

The Pennsylvania personal injury and car accident lawyers of Reiff and Bily are passionate advocates for victims of serious accidents. We understand the pain, financial difficulties, and physical struggles that accompany catastrophic injuries. We are honored to have been chosen Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and to have received the highest of reviews from our clients and peers on avvo.com and believe that adversity causes some lawyers to break and others to break records. For a free no obligation consultation, please contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595. We offer a no fee guarantee which means if we don’t win, you don’t pay.

When I first started practicing law in 1979, it was easier to do business. Hand shakes meant something and you really were in good hands with your insurance company and like a good neighbor, they were, in fact, there. When you bought a policy from an insurance company or were involved in a catastrophic incident with somebody insured with an insurance company, the insurance company normally performed their due diligence and generally paid property damage, medical expenses, and compensatory damages on a fairly routine basis unless liability was clearly disputable or fraud was involved.

Unfortunately, this scenario is rare today. Today insurance claims are fought aggressively and many companies fail to honor the terms of the policy and promises of security through a strategy that insurance expert and Professor Jay M. Feinman calls “Delay, Deny, Defend” in his new and highly recommended book of the same title. Insurance companies now delay payment of claims, deny all or part of a valid claim, and/or aggressively defend the positions they take by forcing the policyholder to hire a lawyer to get what he is rightfully owed.

As an experienced Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer whose law firm has handled more than 20,000 claims since 1979, I am all too familiar with how many insurance companies dealing with cases with clear cut liability and permanent injuries will try to make the defendant sweat it out to increase their bargaining position in order to resolve the case at a lower settlement figure. I am all too familiar with the fact that many times arbitration panels and juries award multiples of the stated minimal insurance limits and I am sometimes puzzled or amazed to learn that insurance companies may spend more in litigation than the case is worth to prove their point and wear the defendant down. I tell my clients that when the facts are on your side and you have a good case, don’t be afraid to sue and win. Don’t be bullied!

In the old days, claims adjusters would insure the prompt, fair, and efficient delivery of the insurance company’s promise to pay under the policy. In a tightening economy, many major insurance companies seek to increase profits. Simply put, the insurance companies’ greatest expense is what it pays out in claims and if it pays out less in claims, it can keep more in profit.

If you are involved in a serious or catastrophic car accident or any other legal claim for that matter, never assume that the insurance company is your friend. Hire a lawyer who is greedy for justice and not afraid to fight back.

As a Philadelphia catastrophic injury lawyer who has been battling insurance companies since 1979, I am familiar with the hardball tactics of insurance companies and their multiple attempts to “screw” their insureds. Taking this literally, I can not help but chuckle when I reviewed a story entitled, “Two Million Dollar Lawsuit Blames Insurer for Couple’s Breakup.” The article alleged that a woman launched a two million dollar lawsuit against an insurance company due to the fact she claims her marriage was destroyed after one of its employees ended up in bed with her husband. The woman launched a two million dollar lawsuit against Great West Life Insurance Company and a former senior benefits representative claiming that the company was negligent and failed to supervise its employee properly. The Superior Court Judge stated that this was novel issue which deserved a proper hearing and added that the courts have decided that insurance company employees can be sued for negligence in dealings with clients. Through his lawyer, the husband of the distressed wife alleges that the claims in the lawsuit are “false and unfounded.”

The law firm of Reiff and Bily is committed to prosecuting claims against insurance companies for unfair claims practices and bad faith. We have over 30 years experience challenging the insurance companies claims handling practices.

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury and unfair insurance claims practice lawyer since 1979, it seems to me that the insurance companies will stop at nothing to intimidate plaintiffs even when the plaintiff is their own insured. I am currently involved in several unfair and bad faith insurance claims cases where the actions of the insurance companies have been unethical and seemingly criminal. In one of these cases, an insured who was catastrophically injured was repeatedly intimidated by insurance company claims investigators, insurance company attorneys and insurance company claims representatives to the point of requiring psychiatric intervention. Of course, what the insurance company adjuster failed to recognize is that all of these “boxing gloves strategy actions” against its own policyholder benefited the plaintiff’s bad faith action and made the plaintiff’s case stronger in the hands of a lawyer with experience in bad faith insurance litigation.

Unfortunately with many companies, unless you accept the initial or continuing low ball settlement offers, which is often not enough to pay medical bills or wages, the posture becomes more aggressive at every step as the insurance companies attempt to deny claims at any and all costs. While I make my living fighting insurance companies, it always amazes me that if insurance companies would attempt to fight fairly from the beginning, in the majority of cases an amicable resolution could be achieved. In most bad faith cases, the insurance company goes to extreme lengths to avoid paying claims and often they are not shy about using aggressive lawyers, unfair claims handling tactics, and the courts to their own advantage in attempting to stack the deck.

In one of our recent cases, intense discovery revealed obvious and intentional misrepresentation by the insurance adjuster representing the insurance company. Our client, a successful business person, was astounded when the company would not pay full benefits under the policy he purchased. He claimed to have many sleepless nights and in fact, went to see his cardiologist who told him that he had suffered an anxiety disorder and stress syndrome as a result of the insurance company’s activities.

Most people are not equipped to combat the insurance companies on their own and the first time you find yourself being low balled by an insurance adjuster, it would be wise to get an experienced unfair insurance claims and bad faith insurance attorney involved who has the experience and tools necessary to fight back aggressively.

Hats off to an Arizona jury who sent a loud and clear message to Met Life for refusing to cover the claim of Kenneth and Tammy Nardeli whose Ford Explorer was stolen from a Mesa, Arizona shopping mall and found abandoned and severely damaged weeks later in Mexico. Although the Nardelis said the vehicle was a total loss and could never be restored to its original condition, Met Life refused to replace the car and instead issued them a check for $10,759.00 while stopping payments for their rental car. Richard Gillenberg, the attorney for the Nardelis, stated that Met Life was determined to boost profits within its Warwick, RI based auto and home division and that the company told its adjusters to get tough on claims. The lawsuit accused Met Life of a deliberate scheme to deny the Nardelis their rights under their insurance policy.

The Philadelphia unfair insurance practices law firm and bad faith insurance law firm of Reiff and Bily is all too familiar with tactics such as these and currently have cases in litigation against insurance companies who place profits before policyholders’ interests and breach the fiduciary obligation to deal in good faith.

Unfortunately, seemingly the motto at many insurance companies in this country is deny, delay and defend until the insured cries uncle or hires a lawyer with enough gumption and strength to take them on. Even then, the insurance companies throw road blocks in their way and as one of our recent cases will attest, they will take some of the most unconscionable steps imaginable to prevent an insured from recovering full benefits under the policy that they paid for with their hard earned dollars.

If you or a loved one is the victim of an insurance company’s unfair claims practice or a bad faith dispute or believe that your insurance company is not treating you fairly, please contact one of our experienced unfair insurance claim practices or bad faith insurance lawyers for a free consultation.

As an experienced insurance claims lawyer who has been litigating bad faith and unfair insurance claims practice since 1979 in conjunction with our catastrophic injury law practice, I have seen that insurance companies have increasingly taken a deny, delay, defend posture with even the most valid and clearest of insurance claims. Many times this arises as a potentially nightmarish situation for the insured as they have paid their premiums and been profitably exploited by the insurance company. Unfortunately most individuals lack the experience or know-how to fight the large insurance company who believes that the insured will back down or be intimidated and settle for cents on the true dollar value of their claim.

In our unfair insurance claims practice we have noticed an increased amount of unfair practices, bad faith, and outright fraud on behalf of the insurance companies. We have been filing bad faith claims against these insurance companies claiming they are breaching their contract with their insured and it is only when these cases start to heat up that the representatives of the company at a corporate level start to pay attention.

All insurance companies owe their insured a fiduciary obligation to act in good faith.

In many cases, insurance companies have hidden relationships with third party administrators or reinsurers while engaged in a back room “fight” with the separate entities pointing the finger at each other which unfortunately comes at the expense of the insured. In many of these cases, we have been able to determine that false information was supplied to one of the hidden third parties in applications or documents whereas the insured was kept in the dark and ultimately successful in a courtroom proceeding. It is important that if you are wrongfully denied a claim by your insurance carrier or you are not offered fair value for your claim, that you fight back and never, never give up.

The unfair insurance claims practices lawyers and bad faith insurance lawyers of Reiff and Bily are committed to protecting consumers wrongfully injured by the deny, delay, defend tactics of insurance companies.